<Scott wrote in part: Shouldn't you fly the flag of the country you were born in, that your parents and grandparents may have given their lives for, where you raise your children?> NO! A boat needs to be properly documented/flagged if it is making international voyages. To do otherwise might make your life miserable down the road in some port. Whatever jurisdiction that this is done in is the flag that the vessel must fly. Flying any other flag is not legit and "could be" interpreted as a criminal offense or at least a flag to look further into the boat for other violations. Having a hailing port on the back/side of the vessel and a flag that doesn't agree is a tipoff that something is wrong. Sort of like the old James Bond flip over license plates ;-) Similarly, not having the documentation number "carved or permanently mounted" to the boats structure is also a flag that will cause you problems if boarded for any reason.. It used to be that no one seemed to care about things like this even tho the laws have been on the maritime books for years. Then the drug trade sprung up in force and some jurisdictions, DEA in particular, used registration anomalies to detain a few boats. Now with the added cloud of "terrorist threats" and what is required of all the countries in securing there ports and waters if they wish to do maritime commerce with the US every Tom, Dick and Harry is making life harder for those who which just to cruise. An entry form used to be "welcome to our country, fill out a few details and have a nice visit". Now many countries need the a list of the most recent countries visited in the last 90 or 180 days, full disclosure of any agricultural items you have aboard, issues with where to put your "trash", on and on. Many are now requiring visas that never did so before, St Lucia being the most recent example. http://tinyurl.com/2z6rrp Many of the Eastern Caribbean Islands are now requiring a 24 hour notice before you enter by private boat even! http://www.caribbeancompass.com/api.htm Keep good records of where you've been, what you have on board and where you acquired it. And above all don't give anyone a reason to tie up your vessel while they "check out something they don't like". Insurance won't cover you and they won't treat you or you boat in a manner that you'll be happy about. Rallying around the flag, apple pie and motherhood is good but a boat/yacht/ship must fly the flag of registration not the one of the crew nationality. No if, ands or buts ;-) As always YMMV.... Dave & Nancy Swan Song Roughwater 58

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007, Dave Cooper wrote: > Rallying around the flag, apple pie and motherhood is good but a > boat/yacht/ship must fly the flag of registration not the one of the crew > nationality. No if, ands or buts ;-) I've been told (by an international delivery skipper) that it is proper to display the crew's national flag from the port-side mast, opposite to the courtesy flag of the country you're currently visiting (on the starboard side). The vessel's flag-of-origin should be flown from the stern. Lots of places to fly lots of flags! And that doesn't even count any signal/alphabet flags you might be using!